Blog Single

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Cornell men’s basketball team nearly rallied from a 21-point second half deficit, but a last-second shot fell short and Miami escaped with a 107-105 victory over the Big Red on Wednesday evening at the Watsco Center. The Hurricanes improved to 9-1 overall, while the Big Red slipped to 7-2, with both of its losses coming on the road to ACC teams by a total of four points.

The Big Red trailed 75-54 with 17:54 remaining before it rallied, getting within single digits with a little over four minutes to play, then cutting it to two with possession with four seconds remaining. Five Cornell players scored double figures as the Big Red set a visiting team Watsco Center record with its 105 points and 27 assists along the way. The Big Red assisted on 27 baskets with just seven turnovers, shot 52 percent from the floor and hit 12 3-pointers.

Greg Dolan had 19 points and six assists, Chris Manon added 18 points, six assists and three steals, and Nazir Williams tallied 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. Sean Hansen also reached double figures with 14 points and six boards and Max Watson chipped in with 13. All 11 Big Red players that saw action scored.

Miami got a career-high 36 points from Isaiah Wong, who added seven rebounds and six assists in a dominant effort. Jordan Miller chipped in 22 points with five boards and four assists and Norchad Omier posted 17 points, 12 assists and made 6-of-7 shots from the floor. Miami connected on 55 percent of its shots from the floor and hit 13-of-26 from beyond the 3-point range.

The game was Cornell’s 28th 100-point game all time, but the first one it lost. The wild numbers don’t stop there. The 41 field goals ranks seventh in a single game, though third against a Division I opponent. Its 27 assists tied for seventh, the second-most against any Division I foe. And after closing its previous two games on runs of 20-2 (at Delaware) and 11-0 (Lafayette), the Big Red scored 11 of the game’s final 14 against the Hurricanes.

First Half

• The game set a frantic pace right from the get-go, as it was tied at 13-13 at the first media timeout.
• Five straight from the Big Red, including a 3-pointer by Williams after a steal by Manon, gave the visitors an 18-13 edge.
• That triggered a 9-0 run for Miami and the home team never trailed again, though it would have to sweat it out until the final buzzer.
• When the halftime horn sounded as Bensley Joseph’s third 3-pointer of the half was swishing through the net, the home team led 66-52 and seemed to be fully in control.
• Miami shot 61 percent overall and made 9-of-15 3-pointers (60 percent) with Wong leading the way with 22 to go along with five assists.
• Nazir Williams had 13 first half points and Sean Hansen had 11 along with five boards.
 

Second Half

• Miami picked right up where it left off, going up 21 (75-54) just over two minutes into the second half when Joseph canned his fourth 3-pointer of the night.
• The Big Red gradually chipped away at the lead with Manon leading the way.
• The junior found Dolan for a 3-pointer, then a slipping Chris Cain for a layup and finally Watson for a bucket in the span of 90 seconds, then scored himself to get within 12 at 77-65.
• Cornell cut it to nine at 91-82 after a Ragland steal on an alley-oop attempt turned into a Watson layup on a feed from Dolan.
• It was a nine-point game with a minute to play after Wong’s trey gave the Hurricanes a 107-98 edge.
• That’s where things got interesting.
• Manon scored on a quick post move, then stole the inbounds pass and missed a layup, but two offensive rebounds later, Marcus Filien dunked the basketball to make it 107-102 with 34 ticks remaining.
• Dolan stole the ball away with quick hands on the other end, and after two Big Red misses, Ragland powered it up with eight seconds left to get within three.
• The Big Red fouled and Miller missed the front end of a 1-and-1, which Williams rebounded for Cornell and was fouled to prevent a 3-point attempt.
• Williams made the first one and intentionally missed the second, with the rebound going off a Hurricane player out of bounds with 4.3 seconds left.
• The inbounds pass found Max Watson, but his shot was blocked and he fell to the floor with some contact, but no foul was called and time expired on the Big Red.
 

Next Up

• Cornell will head up I-81 to renew its series with Syracuse on Friday, Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. at the Carrier Dome.
• The Big Red will attempt to snap a 41-game losing streak to the Orange dating back to the 1968-69 campaign.
• The game will be the third of the season against a member of the powerful ACC.